I know our O has not been clicking and as efficient this year, but still surprised that NU is not controlling the clock like last year. Guessing the coaching philosophy is to let our D control games and get the O in the position to put points on the board. Since this is TT week thought I would bring this up, since I think this was the key to keeping that high powered TT offense off the field last year.
I think you have to consider the team as a whole when answering this question.
For starters, our defense last year was not that good. They were solid, but they were still prone to making a lot of bonehead mistakes. We couldn't afford to keep them out on the field for long periods of time else we would put ourselves into bad situations. So far this year, we haven't given up any touchdowns following a turn over. Last year's defense was not capable of something like that.
We don't need to be that ball control, T.O.P. offense as hardcore as we were last year. We have better athletes now who can stretch the field, and a quarterback who can throw the deep ball with accuracy. Swift and Pederson had solid hands, but they weren't going to stretch the field like Paul and Gilleylen have been able to.